Ships To War: The Exiles
by VentXekart
Summary: A malfunction of the Arthra's dimensional drive strands its crew in non-administrated territory where the enemies are numerous and their only way home is in the hands of hostiles. However, they are not alone as they are accompanied by the last members of a race who are on a journey to their long-lost Homeworld. MGLN/Homeworld Crossover. Rated T just in case.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

* * *

 _Since the beginning of time and space, there has been the existence of Mana, the energy that makes up the power of magic in this very universe. One of the first civilizations to harness this power was Al-Hazard. Despite the fact that the knowledge of the civilization itself have been mostly lost to time itself, one civilization managed to use their technological, thaumaturgical, and scientific knowledge to create a powerful kingdom that had expanded beyond the borders of the lost planet of Belka. The Belkan's rapid advancements were what laid the foundations for many smaller magical civilizations to rise from the ashes of the Warring Ages and the Saint King Reunification War that followed._

 _However, not all civilizations followed the same path of advancement that the Belkans chose many ages ago. There were civilizations that managed to prosper without the use of magic and although their progress was slower they managed to reach the stars and build their own empires from scratch. Although, much like the Belkans and Al-Hazard before them they faded away from existence, the only traces of their civilizations were the technology, legends, and tales about their kind._

 _One known example would be the Progenitors who arrived at what is now referred to as Non-Administrated Galaxy M51 and with them the invention that was the Hyperspace Core...a device that allowed starships to enter the realm of Hyperspace and travel long interstellar distances in a short period of time. Much of the ruins and technology of their civilization remain throughout the Galaxy itself with some being discovered by younger races._

 _These young races of Non-Administrated Galaxy M51 would inherit the Galaxy._

 _The first ones to rise the Bentusi, who long had taken to living in the stars rather than having a Homeworld themselves. They were a wise and very peaceful race (Unless provoked of course) who were physically integrated into their own starships and eventually established the old trade routes that allowed other races to trade their resources for their technology. Of course, they also tried their best to keep peace and order in the galaxy as one of the founding members of the galactic council. As more and more civilizations came out of the woodwork many of them would join the council.  
_

 _Among the many states that would join the council were two rival forces, the Taiidan Empire and the Hiigaran Empire, both of whom had a highly antagonistic relationship with each other and their conflict was one of the first matters to brought to the Galactic Council. In their arrogance and anger the Hiigarans sought to seek an advantage over their rivals and in the Great Wastelands they found it...a Hyperspace Core similar to the one on-board the Bentus, the Great Harborship Of The Bentusi._

 _Building a massive warship and an entire navy, they went forth and with a single jump into hyperspace, completely bypassed the defenses of the Taiidan Empire to their core worlds. The holocaust and war that would follow left the Taiidan in shambles, with their Homeworld and emperor gone it seemed that Hiigarans were victorious. Much to their displeasure, this war brought about the attention of the Galactic Council, who demanded that they turn over the Hyperspace Core for safe-keeping. They claimed that they were only willing to give up their core to the Bentusi as they trusted no one else. But when the Bentusi came met the Hiigaran Star Fleet, they were brought into a trap where the latter hoped to defeat the ancient space-traders and claim their hyperspace core for themselves. The tables were turned, as the Bentusi anticipated this on their part and sent out waves of warships and strikecraft in retaliation. Despite their bravery, the Hiigaran's massive starfleet was destroyed._

 _The council members thought that peace would return to the Galaxy and were satisfied with how the event turned out...Except for the remnants of the Taiidan Empire. Lead by the vengeful Taiidan Admiral Riesstiu I, the Taiidan Remnants gathered their fleets and went on a campaign of extermination...It was said that the Hiigarans became extinct._

 _Many millennia later the Time-Space Administrative Bureau emerged, it was an interdimensional security force made up of a union of several worlds who had advanced significantly since the fall of the Belkan Kingdoms. They would make sure that the use of magic wasn't used for warfare or conquest...and they would intervene when there were incidents involving Lost Logia, magical artifacts of the Ancient Belkan Civilization whose very powers could bring about unimaginable destruction._

 _Upon encountering civilizations that had developed interstellar travel without the use of magic they revealed their presence to these worlds. The number of civilizations that accepted their presence outweighed the xenophobic reactions that some civilizations carried towards them, especially since many of them formed large alliances that spanned throughout their respective territories. In exchange for allowing their autonomy and introducing them to magic, these civilizations would assist the TSAB when needed and establish inter-dimensional trade routes that would allow economies for multiple factions to flourish.  
_

 _The members of the Galactic Council, including the Taiidan Empire and the Bentusi Exchange were among those who accepted the TSAB's presence (Although it should be noted that the Bentusi declined the TSAB's offer to introduce them to magic.). However, in year 60 of the modern Mid-Childan Calendar the peace and order of the Whirlpool Galaxy will tested once again..._

* * *

In the Northern areas of the Administrated World No. 1 Mid-Childa, lay the Grand Cathedral of the Saint Church. This religious organization's doctrines were built around the last Saint King of the Ancient Belkan Civilization; Olivie Sagebrecht. They had gained a number of adherents over the years, especially on worlds where the Modern Belka magic system was prevalent such as Administrated World #84: Siba.

However, night had begun to fall over the planet with the bright full moon surrounded by thousands of stars. In the bedroom of one Sister Carim Gracia, she finished her nightly prayers before slipping into bed and turning out the light. She closed her eyes and shortly afterwards she fell asleep.

* * *

 _From the inky blackness the shape of a brown planet covered in sand emerged in her line of sight before it zoomed in through the atmosphere and clouds until it reached the surface, where she saw a six-wheeled rover climb over a dusty hill...to meet the remains of an ancient starship partially buried under the sands. There was a flash of light before she saw a large almost crescent-shaped starship slowly fly out of the scaffolding that was its drydock.  
_

 ** _If my voice could move the sails,_**

 _There was a blur in her vision as she saw the ship emerge from a rectangular rift that lead to hyperspace, once again orbiting the desert world that now had a massive burnt scar covering the entirety of its northern poles while the scaffold was destroyed, its components floating aimlessly in space. She thought she heard the sound of a women crying.  
_

 ** _Of our ships to war,  
_**

 _Another flash showing the large capital ship encountering the brown curved form of a Bentusi Trade Ship as its back end faced the starship with a yellow glow. "We are the Bentusi...and we welcome you among space-faring cultures..."  
_

 ** _I could spin the grand-est tales,_**

 _She saw the crescent shaped ship and several smaller frigates and strike craft battling an onslaught of white pod-shaped fighters that were launched from a capital ship shaped like a needle. They were struggling to fight their enemies but they seemed to be gaining the upper-hand, as several larger pod-shaped vessels were being mowed down by corvettes.  
_

 ** _That would steer us from your shore._**

 _She saw another flash of light as the forces she watched moments ago engaged in combat with...Taiidan Ships?! What were they doing fighting the Taiidan? The Taiidan were a peaceful civilization, weren't they? However, she caught a spectral glimpse of that desert world facing an orbital bombardment with starships that bore the familiar crimson and gold stripes of the Empire.  
_

 ** _I'd pull us so far a-way until the days forced hate to stray from beau-ti-ful hearts..._**

 _The battle faded from existence, the voice of that same women echoed in her mind, "No one is left...Kharak is Burning..." and then another male one spoke shortly afterwards, "Hiigara, our home."_

 ** _The day we lay our wea-pons down,_**

 _She was somewhere else now, she saw pyramidal and tetrahedral starships with triangular patters etched on them with a purple glow fly through the void of space attacking...A Commonwealth sector! An argon discoverer scout fighter hastily dodged a purple cutting beam that sliced through an unfortunate Teladi Vulture cargo craft before three Split Dragon corvettes flew down in formation and fired missiles that blew through several of those vessels.  
_

 ** _And find our way to com-mon ground,_**

 _She saw a large argon fleet fighting alongside another unidentified fleet with white capital ships and smaller shuttle-craft armed with unusual plasma weapons chased after their unseen foes.  
_

 ** _To make a-mends for all those slain,_**

 _She saw the explosion of the Estia, a starship that was lost during an incident with the infamous book of darkness.  
_

 ** _To end the pain..._**

 _And then she saw the silhouette of a girl around her age with a small glimpse of blonde hair as she was whipped from behind by a tall feminine figure with malevolent purple eyes shimmered with a spark of something that chilled her to the core.  
_

 ** _Drifting a-way from who we are..._**

 _She saw the same girl, holding a scythe-like magical device that glowed yellow and crackled with electricity arcing about, illuminating her red eyes and her dark-colored cloak and barrier jacket. She wasn't alone though there was another girl, this one holding a magical staff with one jewel glowing with a pink light, the features of the girl were obscured by shadows but she could see...that she was a brunette with brown hair tied in small pigtails, cobalt-colored eyes, and a white barrier jacket. And then there was another girl, once again her appearance was partially hidden but one could make out her vivid blue eyes, hair that was a darker shade of brown, the shape of a book or tome in her right hand and a staff with a cross-shaped sigil in her other._

 ** _Has fate let us go too far?_**

 _She found herself in a metallic chamber, where the silhouette of a bald women was levitated by a metallic ring kept upright by a mechanical arm and wires embedded into her limbs and skull. The rest of the chamber was covered with displays of star charts, diagnostic feeds, and 3D shapes of asteroids and starships.  
_

 ** _Drifting a-way from who we are..._**

 _In front of a window where one could see an overview of the planet Mid-Childa and her moons, she could see several teenage boys and girls observing the sight with their backs facing her, several Taiidan strikecraft bearing silver and crimson stripes flew by.  
_

 ** _Has fate let us go too far?_**

 _Then once again everything faded to black.  
_

 ** _If I were strong enough inside,_**

 _She saw the surface of Mid-Childa's moon overlooking the planet as a large shadow started to cover the barren surface._

 ** _To put my pride a-side,_**

 _She saw a flicker of another women's face before something else blinked into existence instead.  
_

 ** _I'd retract this pointed finger,_**

 _She saw a bright glare that was quickly obscured by the shape of- No, it couldn't be! The Saint's Cradle?! The Belkan Battleship of legend was said to be lost! However, it wasn't alone as she saw several starships trailing behind it, including Thraddash Torches, Ilwrath Avengers, a Taiidan Carrier and its escorts, Yaki Pirate Strikecraft, and a handful of red Mantis Mercenary vessels. They weren't going to attack Mid-Childa, were they? Were they?  
_

 ** _With my blame for those who've died._**

 _A quick flash of several more individuals interrupted her musings._

 ** _I'll never find peace of mind for all that I've...left be-hind..._**

 _She was in someone's quarters, she saw a women on her bed deep in meditation, her eyes shut as in deep in thought...or prayer. Before a light illuminated her face, showing that her yellow eyes were now open and her short purple hair blocking out a side of her face._

 ** _I've let my self...be-come con-fined,_**

 _Another flash, from behind her view multiple smaller starships ranging from Vagyr Strikecraft to Federation Cruisers to Argon M3, M4, and M5-class fighters to several starships she didn't recognize began assaulting a group of Time-Space Administration Bureau vessels and their escorts over a Terran planet, although they wore gold, red, and orange colors and gunmetal black, instead of the standard purple, blue, and silver that were seen on most TSAB vessels. She saw a TSAB L-Class vessel taking heavy damage from beam-like plasma weapons that were being fired by Vagyr strikecraft, the TSAB vessels behind it began to retaliate with_ _various magical attacks, green and blue beams lighting up the void as they cut through the federation cruisers that fired their artillery beams in one final move of retaliation.  
_

 ** _Mis-a-ligned...my mind is blind,_**

 _Several other ships emerged from hyperspace and flashes from a jump device or FTL Drive, the largest one being a large blue and white carriers with fighters and corvettes streaming out followed by a white battleship with smaller shuttle-shaped escort fighters opening fire with blue oval-shaped plasma rounds darting forwards, a handful of TSAB vessels came in behind them with standard colors that contrasted with the unusual marks of the opposing vessels. One of the opposing TSAB vessels fired a large magical beam that destroyed an unidentifiable vessel that was silver with glowing blue lights and knife-like protrusions._

 ** _With hate and fear I've been en-twined,_**

 _Three smaller navy-blue starships with three orb-shaped engines attached to globular bodies and lance-like protrusions at the front darted past a now destroyed TSAB vessel while plasma, mass driver rounds, ion beams, anti-matter, and magical blasts flew through the void. These three vessels homed in on their target and fired small rounds of plasma at an intimidating dark black ship firing black bladed discs at a broken Taiidan carrier, but one of the disks cut through one of the smaller ships that burst into bright flames that lingered for a few moments forward.  
_

 ** _Now de-fined..._**

 _From inside the hangar of another vessel, a male figure stared out into space watching as several silver bladed craft drifted towards an unknown destination trailed by a wing-shaped craft with crystalline view ports in the cockpit and back of the vessels as small drones orbited them, of course they were dwarved by a large cylindrical starship with a giant red glowing ring at its front as it was escorted by...Xenon?! But the Xenon usually killed anyone who drifted into their territory including humans and species from other administrated territories!_

 ** _Drifting a-way from who we are..._**

 _She saw a small squadron of older-looking strikecraft activating their jump devices with several large flashes, she saw the glimpse of one of the pilots. It was the same purple-haired women whom she saw earlier.  
_

 ** _Has fate let us go too far?_**

 _She saw the yellow-eyed purple-haired close her eyes as a flicker of the same women wearing an armored purple jumpsuit...or catsuit began slashing through buildings with blades on her arms and legs, the soles of her feet having devices that acted as boosters or engines that allowed her to fly.  
_

 ** _Drifting a-way from who we are..._**

 _A quick blur that obscured the view of another confrontation came to her mind. However, afterwards she saw the cradle again as it was bombarding the surface of the planet as its escorts assisted it, but then from hyperspace Turanic Raider, Taiidan, TSAB, and those mosquito-like corvettes began opening fire on the Cradle and its escorts, taking two of them down in several explosive bursts._

 ** _Has fate let us go too far?_**

 _Over Mid-Childa, a massive fleet of those golden TSAB vessels and a larger one that almost resembled the cradle in some aspects slowly flew towards Mid-Childa, but then another massive fleet emerged with so many hyperspace and jumps being made. Taiidan, Vagyr, Turanic, Federation, Engi, Zoltan, Rock, Mantis, Argon, Boron, Teladi, Split, Paranid, Xenon, Yehat, Arilou, Syreen, Shofixti, and TSAB vessels along with many more she had never even seen before emerged before the two fleets collided.  
_

 ** _DRIFTING A-WAY FROM WHO WE ARE,_**

 _Strikecraft darted about, barrages from magical and non-magical weapons flew past ships, collided with some, destroyed others, missed a handful of them. It was pure utter chaos!  
_

 ** _HAS FATE LET US GO TOO FAR?!_**

 _She saw a large pink beam of energy come from a mage in a spacesuit standing atop a variation of that crescent-shaped vessel she saw near the beginning of this dream burn through multiple of the opposing vessels with explosions and fire filling the orbit of Mid.  
_

 ** _DRIFTING A-WAY FROM WHO WE ARE,_**

 _She saw missiles, rockets, and torpedoes flying towards the imitation of the cradle, striking their target but also taking down several other ships in the process.  
_

 ** _HAS FATE LET US GO TOO FAR?!_**

 _She saw one of the missiles pass by her vision before another bright pink beam darted towards her and-  
_

* * *

Sister Carim awoke with a gasp, panting several times as she tried to regain her composure. That was the most intense prediction she had in her dreams that she knew of! She had to tell the knights of this very church about this vision, she took one glimpse out the window of her room to see the stars in the night sky...she knew that in the future those very skies would be the front seat to what may be an interstellar war unlike anything she's ever seen but she prayed that she was wrong. She hoped for everyone's sake that she was wrong.

* * *

 **Welcome to the end of the prologue, how tough are ya?**

 **Sorry, I just had to drop that Spongebob reference. Anyway, this will be the first in what may be multiple crossovers between Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, Homeworld, Star Control, FTL: Faster Than Light, and the X-Universe games. When I wrote the previous iteration of Ships To War I thought it would be okay but to me it seemed like it was going down the path of a Gary Stu story so I decided to scrap it and start from scratch. However, I did decide to keep the title because it is based of the song of the same name by Ray Koefoed and THYX (Which was the inspiration for this story). Now this fic takes place BEFORE the events of _Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha_ so she along with Fate, Hayate, Yuuno, and others won't appear in this fic although they might be mentioned once or twice in the epilogue of this story (I haven't thought that far ahead yet but it is a thought.). Lindy Harlaown will probably be one of the main protagonists in this story along with Karan S'jet, however other characters will be added to this story as it moves forward. BE AWARE though that updates will be infrequent due to the fact I'm already trying to finish one of my other multi-chapter stories as well as dealing with various things IRL. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the prologue of this story!  
**

 **Cheers,**

 **-VentXekart**

 **EDIT 2/20/2016:**

 **Fixed some minor grammatical errors and sentences missing words/content.**

 **EDIT 4/26/2016:**

 **Noticed a few errors that I missed the last time, they've been corrected.**

 **Also, I forgot to mention that 'Administrated World #84: Siba' was a major location in TwoZeroTwo's fics "Raze The Stray" and "Raise The Dawn". I thought I'd give him a little bit of a shout out for his works by adding a reference to them in this story.  
**

 **One last thing: I'm slowly working on Chapter 1 and I'm hoping to have it up here soon.**

 **EDIT 10/24/2016:**

 **I did some more minor edits, and I also tried to add the rhythm of the lyrics from the original song to this prologue.**


	2. Chapter 1

**Greetings! I'm putting this note here at the top of this chapter in response to the handful of reviews I've gotten so far as well as apologizing for taking so long to write this chapter.**

 **Radon088: It was sort of inspired by the dream sequence in the beginning of your story 'Banded Exiles' but at the same time I was HEAVILY influenced by the music video for the song 'Ships To War'.**

 **Thermidor606: And it isn't just one dimensional mosh pit, its part one in a series of dimensional mosh pits! I'm glad that you're interested in this story though, as I said before this is going to be the first in a series of crossovers!**

 **How-not-to-do-something: Thanks for the words of encouragement and advice, in fact I do have an outline for this particular story stored on the hard drive of my PC. I'm doing my best to make sure that this story and its sequel(s) will not have an overly-complicated and/or confusing storyline.**

 **Speaking of the storyline, one thing I would bring up regarding the chronology of this story is that the events of this story take place fifteen years before the events of _Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Strikers_ (Year 0075 of the Mid-Childa Calendar) and five years before the events of _Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha_ and _Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's_ (Year 0065 of the Mid-Childa Calendar). So this takes place in year 0060 of the 'New Calendar' for anyone who is wondering. **

**Dialogue Reference:**

 ** _'Comm Chatter'_**

 **"SPELLS"**

"Speech"

 _'Thoughts'_

 _"Telepathy"_

* * *

 **Chapter 1: The Great Wastelands**

Inside the dry-dock of the Time-Space Administration Bureau's colossal headquarters nestled inside of dimensional space, the L-Class dimensional spaceship _Arthra_ was being refitted with a new dimensional drive as its older one was damaged in a mission two months ago. While it wasn't serious enough to cause any major problems, the engineers of the Bureau had decided to err on the side of caution and replace it. A damaged dimensional drive could either cease to function or in the worst case scenario malfunction without warning, a rare occurrence but a scary one nonetheless.

After a moment or two the new drive was finally integrated into its new home in the heart of the _Arthra_ 's engines and just in time for a new mission. Currently the ship had a skeleton crew of ten individuals including its captain, Lindy Harlaown. She was a beautiful women of twenty-six-years-old, with green eyes, equally green hair tied into a long ponytail, and a green mark on her forehead that was made up of four triangles in the shape of a crosshair. She wore the standard blue uniform of a Time-Space Administration Bureau officer with a blue blazer, blue flared skirt, white leggings, a white blouse, a blue tie, and blue ankle-high boots. She sat down at the captain's chair, watching as the operators along with one officer cadet by the name of Amy Limietta went to their assigned posts.

The captain smiled, their next assignment would be a cakewalk, as it involved transporting supplies from Administrated World No. 61 Supools to Administrated World No. 1 Midchilda. Normally, the TSAB would hire an Interdimensional Trader for such a purpose but Captain Harlaown and her crew volunteered to do it after their ship was ready for travel.

 ** _'This is Control to the Arthra, your new drive has been installed and we are deactivating the docking clamps.'_**

There was a short metallic rumble, before the ship was freed from its restraints. Like all L-class dimensional spaceships, it consisted of a central module with multiple sections curved inward like a protective bowl or saucer-shaped cage with a two nacelles perched on the top and bottom of the craft. Peering from the back was a single square-shaped aperture with a flat spoiler overshadowing it and a lone fin pointing out beneath it. The two sharp prongs that pointed forward from the sides of the vessel were to focus the Arc-En-Ciel magical cannon mounted in the spherical section of the main module.

A soft whine could be heard, a sign that the engines were spooling and the ships systems were online.

 ** _'Docking clamps are away, you are cleared for departure Arthra.'_**

"Affirmative, Control." She then looked to her crew on the bridge. "Helm, take us forward and prepare to charge the dimensional drive."

"Aye, Captain! Engaging engines..." The operator named Allex pressed a single button on the interface before it flash from blue to green "NOW!"

With a soft puff the engines were ignited, the _Arthra_ slowly pushed its way forward out of the Drydock picking up speed as it did so. From the view-port they could see the inside of the massive hangar crawl away from their line of sight before all they saw was the kaleidoscopic blues and purples of Dimensional Space.

"Captain, we have cleared the drydock and our Dimensional Drive is charged. Just give us the word and we'll be to Supools in no-time."

Lindy nodded. _'So far, So Good..._ _'_ She thought.

"Helm, set a course to Supools."

When the drive engaged, a large hole opened in the middle of dimensional space with a tunnel that swirled with purples, blues, greens, and other colors. However, things would not go as planned.

 ** _'Arthra, this is control we are picking up an energy spike from your dimensional drive do you copy?'_**

 _'Odd, didn't we just replace the drive?'_ Lindy thought, her smile shrinking a little with her nervousness but still keeping her cool.

"Control, can you please repeat that?"

 ** _'Arthra, we are detecting an energy spike from your dimensional drive and we're not su-'_**

Suddenly the ship jolted forward with all hands on the bridge being thrown out of their seats.

"What the hell was that?!" The purple-haired operator Landy asked.

 ** _'Alert! Arthra, this is control we're now detecting dangerous excess levels of mana from your drives! Power down your engines now! Repeat, power down your engines!'_**

 **'HELM SHUT IT DOWN!'** The green-haired captain yelled, grabbing hold of her console.

"Attempting shut down!" The same male operator said as he frantically entered commands on his console.

"Emergency stop engaged!" One female operator with neatly combed purple hair called out.

"We're losing control of our stabilizers!" Another male operator yelled.

"This is Engineering, we can't shut it down! It's not responding to our commands-"

There was another jolt, everyone was knocked off their feet as they entered the tunnel in dimensional space. The _Arthra_ tumbled through the tunnel, blues and purples of dimensional space shifting to reds and blacks as it was flung to parts unknown. Lindy managed to grab a hold on her chair, a few of the other personnel grabbed onto their seats or had tight grips on their consoles but then Amy Limietta was thrown off of her post and was heading for the wall.

 **"STRUGGLE BIND!"** Instead of having her spine broken and her brains splattered on the wall, Amy was wrapped by multiple strands of green energy that bound her arms to her sides as they protruded from the walls. While such spells were used to capture or restrain hostile combatants, it was just by improvising that Lindy managed to save her life. However, that didn't get them out of dimensional space as the wormhole started spinning faster and faster around the ship, turning from purple to a bright red with a deafening roar of thunder.

In the innards of the power core, one of the crewmen who had brown hair stained by his bleeding forehead grabbed the nearest tool he could; a crowbar. He was tossed to one of the walls of engineering but he saw the conduit that lead from the ships power core to the dimensional drive and he barreled towards it. Once he had a firm grip on it, he pried a piece of paneling that was tossed elsewhere and he began tearing through the wires and power cables that lead to the dimensional drive with his gloved hands. It was a desperate move but it was he hoped would pay off in the end. Thankfully it did.

With a determined shout he brought the tool down and mangled a set of wires, sparks flew out and he barely missed having his face blown off by a burst of mana from the conduit. The tunnel of dimensional space disintegrated as darkness greeted everyone who was on board.

* * *

Amy Limietta awoke with a groan, her cheek having been on the cold surface of the bridges floor. She pulled herself up, rubbing the sand out of her eyes. She wondered if everybody was knocked out. She slowly and unsteadily stood up, falling once on her left knee as she braced her arms against the chair in front of her console. A grunt of frustration later and she was standing in the bridge, inspecting the area. Her fellow operator Allex was nearly curled up in a fetal position against the wall as his knee bled out onto the floor, one of them was leaning against her console nursing her bruised head while her left arm was laying by her side in an unusual (and painful) position, she saw Landy with a black eye stumble out of his chair before he bent down on his knees and vomited, as for Captain Harlaown...

"Captain!" Amy yelled, the brunette rushing to the green-haired women from Firstraum who was slumped in her chair had a twisted leg and a welt on her cheek. She groaned before sitting up and grabbing her forehead. She then gasped as a sharp pain ran up her thigh, hissing as she was propped on the cadets shoulder standing on one leg.

"I-Is everybody alright?"

She was met with a chorus of pained groans and relieved confirmations.

"Alright...anybody whose been hurt follow me and Amy to the sickbay. Everyone else, try to help your fellow crew-mates or start getting this ship back online. We don't know where we are and we can't afford to be drifting in Kaiser-Knows-Where."

Nearly an hour and a half later, everybody was out of the sickbay and back at their posts. Thankfully there were no casualties but everybody took a beating from when the _Arthra_ 's drive malfunctioned. Speaking of the drive, one of the crewman had found that the drive had unfortunately had overheated and was now nothing more then half-melted dead weight. If that wasn't bad enough, all of the weapons were knocked offline, communications (with the exception of telepathy and non-magical technology) were non-functional, the ships sensors would need to be re-calibrated, and their navigation systems were being rebooted. So in a matter of speaking they were stranded but the ship wasn't dead in the water, they still had regular propulsion so they could at least try and find help depending on where they were located.

"Status report." Lindy had a determined look on her face, she was in a fair amount of pain with her broken leg in a cast and two crutches by leaning by her chair but she wasn't going to give up. Her son Chrono had already lost his father but there was no way in hell he would lose his mother as long as she and her crew were still standing. If that meant that they had to limp the _Arthra_ to friendly territory and into a dimensional gate, so be it! She. Will Not. Die. Here! And neither will any of her crew! She still had hope they could make it out of this mess.

"We're approaching an asteroid field, there seems to be a sufficient amount of resources in some of these rocks too. If we could mine them and process them we would have enough fuel and supplies to last for a while." There was a beep on the male's console.

"Wait, we're picking up contacts on our sensors..." Then one of the female operators with magenta hair tied into two neat buns behind her head chimed in as the holographic diagram of a ship appeared.

"Confirmed! Its a fleet of the Taiidan Empire. Looks like a carrier, two destroyers, a couple frigates and some strike craft escorts!"

The Taiidan Empire was one of the dominant interstellar powers of Non-Administrated Galaxy M51, having been active for over four millennia. The interstellar traders known as the Bentusi introduced the Taiidan to the Bureau when the TSAB sent a Lost Logia containment mission thirty-years ago. Currently, relations between the Taiidan Empire and the Time-Space Administration Bureau were lukewarm even after introducing them to magic.

First thing that came into their line of sight was a group of Taiidan scout fighters. The Fiirkan-class scouts have a rectangular body with four blade-shaped wings that also double as stabilizers for atmospheric flights, and up front it has a narrow, angular hull between the main body and the cockpit upon which an exhaust vent and two small rotary six-barreled mass-drivers. Seven of them were in a broad formation, with one breaking off from the main formation and then coming to stop in front of the _Arthra_.

"They're hailing us." Amy said, turning to the captain.

"On screen." Lindy said, keeping herself professional for what was to come, soon afterwards a screen popped up with an ID of the scout and an audio scope of the transmission.

 ** _'Attention unidentified vessel, you have interrupted a major training exercise of the Taiidan Imperial Fleet. State your business immediately or turn back now!'_**

Lindy took a deep breath and began.

"This is Captain Lindy Harlaown of the Time-Space Administration Bureau Investigative Ship _Arthra_ , we've experienced a dimensional drive malfunction and our ship has taken damage to multiple systems. We are in dire need of assistance we need repairs and an escort to the dimensional bridge near Hiigara. I repeat. We have taken serious damage to our vessel and we need assistance immediately!"

No response, the scout fighter was still floating there with its engines inactive and it was nearly impossible to make out the pilot behind the dark tinted glass of the cockpit. Though unnerving as it was, she tried again.

"This is Captain Lindy Harlaown of the Time-Space Administration Bureau Investigative Ship _Arthra_ , do you read me? We have taken heavy damage from a dimensional drive malfunction! We are requesting immediate assistance, can you help us?!"

Once again, there was silence until the crew on the bridge saw the engines of the scout fighter glow behind it. There was also a set of rapid beeps from Allex' console, he immediately went to work and on the holographic display was a three-dimensional map, showing the _Arthra_ as a small blue sphere and a blinking set of waves coming from an area further to the left of the map.

 ** _'Attention Arthra, we will escort you to the following coordinates where a Support Frigate will be standing by to repair your ship. If you have any further requests or queries please send them to the captain of the carrier. Do you understand?'_**

Everyone on board was relieved, once they got the repairs they needed the Taiidan would hopefully send them to Hiigara where they would cross through the dimensional bridge. Doing so would take them into dimensional space and with some luck they'll be back to the TSAB Headquarters in no time.

"We read you loud and clear, pilot. Thanks for the assist." Lindy turned to her crew, "Helm take us forward to those coordinates."

"Aye captain!" One of the bridge crew members replied. The Dimensional Spaceship rumbled, engines were coming online and it was bring them to their destination at a steady pace.

"Ship sensor re-calibration has been successful, the Taiidan fleet is up ahead...We're picking up some activity past the asteroid belt and gas clouds to our port side but they did say it was a military exercise so I doubt its anything we need to worry about."

* * *

Meanwhile, communications between the Taiidan fleet and the rest of the empire had become volatile with the former being uncharacteristically anxious while the latter was absolutely LIVID about this turn of events. It was over thirty years ago that first contact had been made between the Taiidan Empire, the Time-Space Administration Bureau, and the interstellar civilizations beyond their dimension. It all started when a few Taiidani archeologists discovered a formerly inhabited world that held ancient technology that was unlike anything they've had seen before...Although they weren't aware that it was the burial site of a Lost Logia; A powerful magical artifact built by the Ancient Belkan Civilization. Their efforts first caught the attention of an exploratory vessel of the Saint Church which led to a short bloodless conflict before the Bureau and the Bentusi arrived. It was then that the incident was brought forth to the Galactic Council and later it would be what brought inter-dimensional trade and magic to the Galaxy at large.

Among those profiting from this new frontier was the Taiidan Empire, who in exchange for the Saint Church establishing a enclave on the planet now named 'New Light' would be provided education for any citizens with magical potential. This lead to the development of the Taiidan's magical system, which was loosely based off that of the Church's modern Belka system that they used in combat. How the Taiidan utilized their system was mostly unknown to the Bureau and the Church but Taiidani insurrectionists would often whisper of mages punishing those who would betray or abandon the Empire. The truth was hidden to the Bureau and the Church for over three decades but now everything could exposed!

The Taiidan fleet had a simple objective; Exterminate the exiles on Kharak for breaking their treaty. While they had succeeded to glass the daylights out of the planet, they didn't destroy the Kushan fleet that was outside of the system and now they were on the other side of the Nebula mobilizing their forces against them. What was most unexpected was the arrival of the _Arthra_ and her crew, the ship apparently having been damaged by a dimensional drive malfunction. If they were reach the dimensional bridge near Hiigara they could potentially expose their crimes against those damned exiles! The Saint Church would stop providing magical training for future Taiidan mages and they would potentially stop anyone who would try to do so while the Bureau could either put an embargo on all interdimensional trade and EVEN worse they could intervene on behalf of the Hiigarans! Then there were the handful of civilizations beyond their dimension who would most likely sever all of their ties with the Empire which would diminish their respect among the other interstellar races!

Everything the Empire had built with the leadership of their immortal emperor would be ruined! The commanding officers aboard the leading ship of the Taiidan fleet were now brainstorming possible solutions ranging from pulling the _Arthra_ away from the conflict OR covering up the battle they were having with the Hiigarans. So far, they had managed to stave off the mages' curiosity from investigating the site but it wouldn't last for long, they needed to act NOW!

All chatter from both sides immediately ended though when the Emperor's voice was heard in the channel.

 ** _'This is unacceptable, if the Bureau were to find out about our activities here they would aid the Hiigaran scum when we've cornered them right here in the Great Wastelands. This cannot be allowed to pass...'_** The deathly calm voice of the Emperor was the only thing that signified how enraged he was, no one speaking out unless they wanted to fuel his anger and hate,

 ** _'This dimensional ship and their crew must not make it to Hiigara or Dimensional Space...Destroy it immediately, show no mercy to these interlopers.'_**

* * *

"All stop." Lindy said, her crew responding accordingly before they cut the engines. The _Arthra_ was now floating near the Taiidan fleet, the crew could see a destroyer, support frigate, a resource controller, and a Carrier. But what was curious about them was the fact that they had signs of damage that was recently repaired, scorched tears in their hulls were sealed and chips of paint were missing from the greying scars on the hull. It didn't make sense to Lindy that the Taiidan would use live munitions in a training exercise, especially against their own ships. _'Something isn't right here...'_ She thought.

"Helm, get a surface scan of that Taiidan Carrier."

"Ma'am?"

"Do it."

The operator Allex nodded hesitantly before inputting the command into his console. On the view screen the Taiidan Carrier was surrounded by a green geometrical grid before being highlighted in a silhouette of the same color. The image of that capital ship was extruded into a holographic 3D model that was now displayed in front of the crew on the bridge with several boxes of scrolling text pointing at regions of the ship in red,

"Ma'am, the Taiidan carrier has taken some damage but it looks like the crew of the ship may be trying to repair it."

Lindy furrowed her brow, her hands interlaced before she pointed at the representation of the carrier that was stationary outside of the ship.

"What type of damage?"

"Uh...hold on." Allex pressed a single button on his console before a screen with a 2D model of the Top, Right, Front, and Back of the vessel popped up with text boxes pinned on the red regions of the ship.

"According to the scanners, it seems to have been damage from orbital or surface defense weapons...probably missiles judging by some of the scorch marks on that carrier."

 _'That can't be good.'_ Lindy thought, _'That means this whole 'training exercise' excuse is a cover for something...But what?'_

Out of the corner of her peripheral vision she saw the destroyer turn so that its port side was facing the _Arthra_ before its mass driver turrets slowly turned and aligned its barrels with the bow of the dimensional space ship. Immediately, the color fell from Lindy's face as her eyes widened. _'They couldn't really be trying to-_

"Captain, The Taiidan Destroyer has a lock on our ship...I-It's charging weapo-"

Lindy jumped out of her chair and yelled "Engage Round Shield!" at the top of her lungs.

The barrels of the Destroyer's mass drivers boomed with the sound of munitions heading towards the smaller Time-Space Administration Bureau vessel, ready to blast it into oblivion. Fortunately for the crew aboard the _Arthra_ they managed to activate their main protective measure.

A large circular glyph burst to life, runes along the outer edges of its rings burning brightly while a magical triangle sat in the middle with all three of its corners enclosing larger runes in its ring. The mass-driven rounds exploded on contact with the glyph, fire and energy being dispersed away from the vessel but the force still managed to rumble the smaller vessel. Several crew members braced for the impact that left the hull shaking for but a moment. Immediately, Lindy opened a channel with the carrier.

"This is the _Arthra,_ we mean no harm! I repeat we mean no harm, disengage immediately!"

However, all she got was a very callous reply,

 ** _'Sorry ma'am, we have our orders.'_**

After the channel closed, she frantically barked orders to the bridge bunnies. They needed to get the hell out of here before those Taiidan capital ships tore them apart!

Speaking of that, the destroyer yawed to its port side and fired another volley at the _Arthra_ , only for it to be barely protected by a round shield. Seeing how ineffective it was, the crew on board of the destroyer took a different approach and fired their forward ion cannons.

"INCOMING ION CANNONS!" Amy yelled.

"DIVE! DIVE! DIVE!" Lindy barked.

The blue beams of the Ion Cannon hummed but they didn't hit their intended target, only managing to shear the top of the hull.

"We've been hit!" Allex yelled.

"Whats our damage?"

"Hull integrity has fallen to seventy-two percent!" The crewman Landy yelled.

"Re-route power from weapons to engines on the double!"

There was another rumble aboard the ship as a lighting implement above someone's console was blown out, glass and debris falling towards them until they were pushed onto the ground by a fellow crew mate.

"God damn!" Allex cursed, "We just lost our secondary engines, we lose our primary engine and we'll be dead in the water!"

Amy heard several rapid beeps on her console indicating one thing,

"We got strike-craft inbound!"

* * *

Darting towards Arthra was a group of seven Taiidan Defenders, the pilot of the lead craft adjusted his yoke and throttle so that he was at the front of the pack. He saw his wingmen on the edge of his peripheral vision and began gesturing towards them all the while relaying orders.

 ** _'Alright, lets go into a Delta formation and lock in.'_**

 ** _'Copy that, lead.'_**

 ** _'I'm right behind you.'_**

 ** _'Got it, I'm inbound.'_**

 ** _'I'm in position, lead.'_**

 ** _'I've got your back, lead.'_**

 ** _'We're in the pipe, five by five.'_**

The flight lead then grabbed a throttle on his right hand side and then shifted it forward, the soft hum of his mass drive spooling to life.

 ** _'Squad, set your systems for aggressive tactics.'_**

 ** _"Aggressive tactics enabled, diverting power to weapons.'_**

 ** _'Show no mercy.'_**

 ** _'Weapons to full power.'_**

 ** _'Affirmative lead, weapons are hot.'_**

 ** _'Mass drivers to full power.'_**

 ** _'Roger that, weapons at the ready.'_**

The wing of defenders turned about, aiming aft section at the interdimensional spaceship.

 ** _'Target the engines. Ready...FIRE!'_**

The mass drivers punched through the hull of the aft section, denting the armor until several rounds met their marks in the glowing engines of the Arthra. Its blue glow burst into a jet of flames while smoke and debris drifted out of the hull.

* * *

"Our aft section has been hit...Captain, our primary engines have been knocked offline! We're sitting ducks out here!"

"That Taiidan destroyer has a lock on us!

Lindy turned back to Allex,

"Prepare the round shield!"

"Our defense systems are not responding to our commands!"

"That last hit must have knocked them out, we're totally defenseless!"

"Oh Kaiser, I don't want to die! Not like this!"

Lindy shut her eyes, gritting her teeth, preparing for the end that was coming... _'I'm sorry Chrono...'_

But in never came...

She opened her eyes and looked to see the destroyer being taken down by a wing of strike craft and a small flotilla of frigates she had never seen before!

"Helm...What the hell is going on?!"

"Unknown, ma'am." Allex answered, "Those craft don't match anything in our databanks except for- T-They have a hijacked Turanic Raider ion array frigate and Taiidan destroyer! They're attacking the carrier and their escorts!"

Lindy watched as a group of grey and orange almost shuttle-shaped interceptors sped past the _Arthra's_ bow before pursuing the Taiidan Interceptor's from behind in a claw formation. The projectile cannons tearing through them like tissue paper as shrapnel flew out of their hulls.

"Well, at least their on our side..." The operator who said then muttered, "I hope." before turning back to the battle on screen where the crew witnessed a small wing of bombers heading towards the Taiidan Carrier at maximum speed.

* * *

The bridge of the Taiidan carrier shook as their support frigate exploded as it try to patch up the damage on the capital ship.

"Sir, we've lost our support frigate and our destroyer!"

The captain, a bald man with a bulky body growled before pointing to an officer.

"Intensify forward fire power, I don't want anything getting through!"

There was another rumble as an ion cannon tore through the carrier's engine.

"I said... INTENSIFY FORWARD FIRE POWE-"

"TOO LATE!" His officer pointed to the attack bombers that released their payload of plasma bombs that immediately burst through the transparent aluminum view-ports of the bridge with a wall of fire immolating everyone and everything on board.

* * *

A plume of smoke and shrapnel was streaming out of the Taiidan Carrier, it slowly began drifting downwards as its systems began to flicker offline but before it could even do so the commandeered Turanic Raider ion array frigate fired one last beam that cut through the bottom of the ship's hull, releasing flames and smoke before it exploded.

Soon afterwards the ion array frigate's panels folded inward before it turned around and headed towards the asteroid field with the unknown strike craft and frigates flying ahead of it.

"Ma'am, the Taiidan fleet has been destroyed and the unknown starships are retreating through the asteroid field." Amy said, slumping back into her chair in relief as the signals from the new ships faded from the _Arthra's_ sensor range.

Lindy was surprised, this meant that whomever this new fleet was affiliated with obviously had a grudge with the Taiidan but not with them.

"Alright, tell engineering to commence immediate repairs...we can't afford to be drifting directionless in the middle of a Galaxy.

"Aye, ma'am I'll let them know tha-" Amy paused when she saw a new signal on her console, this one just having just appeared on sensors "Wait, I'm picking up a single unarmed strike craft-sized vessel emerging from the asteroid field...its designs match that of the strike craft we saw earlier but it seems to be approaching us cautiously."

Lindy knew what was about to happen, even though she hadn't done it before. This would be an attempt at first contact between the mages of a Time-Space Administration Bureau vessel and a newly identified interstellar civilization. First impressions were everything so she took a deep calming breath...and then exhaled, she had training for this type of situation and she would be putting it to the test at this very moment.

"We're being hailed, audio only"

Lindy exhaled, ready for whatever might come of this event whether it be good or bad.

"Put us through." Amy nodded and pressed a single button on the interface before a large audio scope appeared on screen, that was the signal Lindy needed to begin.

"This is Captain Lindy Harlaown of the Time-Space Administrative Bureau investigative spaceship _Arthra_ , do you read us?"

 _ **'This is the ambassador craft of the Kushan Mothership, we read you loud and clear, Arthra. Our sensors have picked up heavy damage on your vessel, we can send out a team to assist with repairs if need be.'**_

Lindy smiled, things were going better than she thought.

 _ **'I along with my crew appreciate the offer and we humbly accept it. However, I'd like to ask one question: What are your intentions?'**_

There was a five minute-long moment of silence, the crew stood on edge waiting for their answer. Things could go VERY wrong in a first contact scenario especially if she said something that might offend this new civilization. Thankfully though, they received an honest answer.

 ** _'We are members of a fleet that is making a journey to our long lost homeworld.'_**

 _'Odd, but they are telling the truth.'_ Lindy thought, before quickly returning to the conversation.

"Where is your long lost homeworld, does it have a name? I believe we can assist your journey if we come to an agreement of sorts." Lindy was optimistic, the Kushan were friendly and they had the best of intentions in mind so it might be a good idea to give them a hand.

 _ **'Our long lost homeworld is known as the planet Hiigara.'**_

The crew of the _Arthra_ never expected that to be their answer and they reacted the only way they could.

"EEEEEEEEEEHHHH?!"

And thus the first steps of a long journey home had begun.

* * *

 **TO BE CONTINUED IN CHAPTER 2!  
**

 **Wow, this took a long time for me to write. Especially since I had a couple bouts of writer's block along the way but I've finally finished the first chapter to this story. Anyway, the next chapter will involve the events of Diamond Shoals as well as the crew of the Arthra learning about the events of the first, second, third, and fourth missions of the Homeworld campaign. It will also feature the introduction of Karan S'jet and a few OCs who will occasionally pop in this story. Until then though I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!**

 **Cheers,**

 **-VentXekart.**


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